This question was posed as the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno-Cordillera expresses doubts that the newly installed secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment Arturo Brion will bring any good in improving the working situation of the Filipino workers. KMU finds Brion another headache to the labor sector as workers from food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC) revealed his record in dealing with labor matters.

Basing it on the statement of the labor union Ilaw at Buklod ng mga Manggagawa sa San Miguel Corporation (IBM-SMC) saying that Brion helped SMC suppress union activities on his days as a corporate lawyer of the Danding-Cojuangco owned company by freezing special assesment fees of the union members and other union funds way back 1994 and still going on until now, KMU-Cordillera said that this kind of character is capable of doing such Sto. Tomas attitude of biasness against the workers.

KMU-Cordillera agrees with the statement of IBM-SMC secretary-general Yolito Fadriquelan describing Brion being brought up and trained to defend corporate interests and by his real character, it is no wonder why he was handpicked by Malacañang as a replacement to Sto. Tomas. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo seems to be confident on Brion to continue her goal in impressing the big capitalists to help her cling on her rotten presidency.

Leonida Tundagui said that being the newly DOLE chief, Brion already showed his real nature towards the workers when he pushed for wage adjustments through regional wage boards and shaves off any legislated and across the board wage increases. “As far as we know, wage increases coming from the regional wage boards are known to be too far from the real increase the workers need if compared to the continuous rising of prices of basic goods and services. This new labor secretary seems to have the likes of Sto. Tomas in curbing the legitimate demands of the workers for a better life and we have also heard that he is also keen in promoting labor dispute avoidance and other programs initiated by his predecessor”, Tundagui added.